Apply a client's available balance
When you take money from a client without tying it to a specific order — a prepayment, a round-number check, or an overpayment — it sits on their Available Balance. It stays there until you apply it to a quote or invoice, so nothing is lost track of and nothing is guessed at.
Where to find it
Section titled “Where to find it”Open the client from the Clients list. The Client Balance card on their page shows:
- Available Balance — money collected from this client and not yet applied to a quote or invoice.
- Recent activity — every payment, application, and refund behind that figure, newest first.
Apply the balance to an order
Section titled “Apply the balance to an order”- On the client’s page, find the Client Balance card.
- Click Apply to order.
- In Choose quotes or invoices, check the orders you want to cover. Search by invoice or quote number, or by title.
- Set how much of the balance goes to each one.
- Check the running totals — Applying now and Remaining on balance — then click Apply.
Undo an application
Section titled “Undo an application”If you applied money to the wrong order, you don’t need to refund it and start over.
- Find the row in Recent activity that shows the amount applied to that order.
- Click Unapply.
The money returns to the available balance and the order goes back to what it owed before. Nothing is returned to the client’s card.
Refund from a payment
Section titled “Refund from a payment”To send money back to the client rather than move it around:
- Find the payment in Recent activity.
- Click Refund.
- Choose Full Refund or Partial Refund, and for a partial refund enter the amount.
- Pick a reason — Customer cancelled work, Overpayment, Duplicate payment, or Service issue.
- Confirm the refund.
Card and bank refunds typically appear within 1–3 business days, depending on the client’s bank. Cash and check payments are recorded as handed back — you return the money yourself.
Reading the activity feed
Section titled “Reading the activity feed”Rows carry a short status so a payment that hasn’t moved the balance yet explains itself:
| What you see | What it means |
|---|---|
| AWAITING CARD | A terminal payment is waiting for the client to present a card. It’s not on the balance yet. |
| FAILED · NOT CHARGED | The client cancelled at the terminal, or the card was declined. No money was taken. |
| Applied to an order | That amount went to the quote or invoice named on the row. Click through to open it. |
| Returned to balance | An application was undone and the money is available again. |
Bank (ACH) payments aren’t available to apply until they settle, which takes a few days.
Is an available balance the same as a deposit?
No. A deposit is attached to a specific quote or invoice from the moment you take it. An available balance is money that belongs to the client but isn’t assigned to anything yet — you decide later where it goes.
Can I apply one balance across several invoices?
Yes. Check as many quotes and invoices as you need in the Choose quotes or invoices list and set an amount for each.
The client overpaid. Do I have to refund them?
Not unless they ask. The extra sits on their available balance and you can apply it to their next job. Refund it from the payment row if they’d rather have the money back.
Why is my client’s balance zero when I just took a payment?
Either the payment was applied to orders as you collected it, or it hasn’t cleared yet. Terminal payments show AWAITING CARD until the client presents their card, and bank payments aren’t available until they settle.
Does unapplying money refund the client?
No. Unapplying only moves money back to the available balance inside Service Buddy — the client’s card is untouched. Use Refund when you actually want to send money back.
Why don’t I see a Client Balance card on my clients?
It appears on US accounts, which run BuddyPay on Rainforest Pay, once BuddyPay is connected. International accounts run on Stripe and don’t have client balances — payments there are collected against a specific invoice or quote. See Set up BuddyPay.